The political establishment is failing in its most basic responsibility: to leave a better world for the next generation.

The impacts of a changing climate in West Virginia are becoming too real to ignore: deadly flooding, changing weather patterns, freak storms and more. And we know this problem is only getting worse. Scientists tell us we need to cut climate pollution 45% in the next 10 years. This problem has gotten so bad because, for decades, fossil fuel executives funded misinformation and bought off politicians to keep raking in profits. It is past time to treat climate change like the emergency it is.

Here in West Virginia, our political elite – bought and paid for by the fossil fuel industry – have tried to tell us that we cannot address this crisis without making our terrible economy even worse. They try to tell us that it is impossible to plan for the future.

The reality is that even if we do nothing to address climate change, the use of coal for electricity generation is predicted to fall from 30% to 11% in the next decade. Coal companies will continue to be in financial distress and will continue to try to avoid paying the health and pension benefits they’ve promised miners. And the natural gas industry has gone from bankruptcy to bankruptcy, failing to produce the jobs and tax revenues that it promised our state a decade ago. The plans for massive petrochemical development in West Virginia are likely to repeat the same problems of the fossil fuel economy and will not live up to expectations. Meanwhile, states around us are reaping the benefits of a growing renewable energy industry.

We can bring in new investment and build on our existing strengths to rebuild a stronger state that is less dependent on the booms and busts of the fossil fuel economy. And we can protect workers and communities in the face of this transition.

I will fight for federal resources to ensure that no WV worker is left behind as our country transitions to a clean energy economy. We have the resources in the richest country in the world to ensure that no one loses a day’s pay, or a dime of their pension. We can put people to work for a prevailing wage rebuilding our drinking water infrastructure, reclaiming old mine sites and growing other sectors of our economy, including tourism and agriculture that depend on clean water and clean air.

Click here to read Cathy’s policy paper on Tackling the Climate Crisis in West Virginia.